


Falling Stars

by henghost



Category: ITZY (Band)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-05-13 21:08:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19259203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/henghost/pseuds/henghost
Summary: Ryujin experiences foreboding dreams, but that doesn't frighten her as much as Yeji's presence.





	1. Chapter 1

_The city never sleeps, let me slip you an Ambien_

_- ****_ ****Jay Z, "Empire State of Mind"

Gray, pregnant clouds hung above Times Square like a legion of zeppelins. Ryujin could feel sweat under her arms and across her brow, and she wondered when they might be able to get back to the hotel because the tips of her black hair were starting to curl up. But there was Yuna to contend with.

She (Yuna) had found this tacky souvenir shop and was in the process of rifling through its various tchotchkes and knick-knacks, totally oblivious to the sidelong glances the dark-skinned woman at the register was giving her— it’s not like she’d be able to understand any lecture anyone here could give her anyway, and not just because of the language barrier.

So the rest of them had to look on impotently while Yuna tried on yet another “I Heart NY” hat. Yeji said, “Talk about duality.”

“Duality?” said Ryujin.

“Well,” said Yeji, “Try to square this Yuna with the one who likes to wear totally revealing clothes and flirt with every guy she comes across. It’s like there’s two different versions.”

“Isn’t that just what being fifteen means?”

“See, when you said ‘fifteen’ just now, I thought you hadn’t been listening to me and were abruptly changing the subject. Because how could she be fifteen?”

“Yeji, you know we’re not much older, right?”

“God, don’t remind me.” The two gazed at Yuna, now searching through the novelty miniature New York license plates that had names instead of numbers. Looking for “Hussey” —her English name— no doubt. Ryujin, top of her English class, knew that “hussy” was a word for an immoral woman, so maybe it was appropriate, even if no one’s been named Hussey for at least a century.

Yeji said, “She’s pretty though. Like, she’s got a very, uh, mature body, is what I mean.” And was that splotch of red across her cheek a blush or makeup?

Ryujin didn’t have a response. She instead thought about the rumors about Yeji she’d heard during their time as trainees. The ones about how she’d almost been kicked out because she’d been caught kissing another girl in the bathroom.

But she pushed those thoughts aside because the environment they were trainees in was like a kind of primordial soup of gossip, and Ryujin— at least at the time— had put the likelihood of these rumors being true at around 0.0%.

“Sorry, was that weird?” said Yeji, bringing her hand up in front of her mouth.

“What? No, I agree. But probably keep that between us— it’s technically illegal.”

Yeji laughed.

***

After they’d finally dragged Yuna out of the store and shoved her in the rented car and gotten back to the hotel, Ryujin was about ready to collapse. The jetlag, the travelling, the total shock of suddenly being on the other side of the planet— it was a miracle she was still standing.

So she dragged herself into the elevator and into the little hotel room— how could a huge company like theirs be so cheap?— and fell into bed. She dreamed of Yeji and of the end of the world. The two of them, their fingers brushing against each other’s, standing under a kind of black obelisk adorned with electronic billboards. And she saw cataclysm. Fiery projectiles landing on New York City like drops of rain, spraying debris throughout the city. 

As one of these fireballs was about land on top of her, she was shaken awake. There was Yeji above her, grinning, a little disheveled. The company only got three rooms for the five of them, so they’d simply decided to keep the sleeping arrangements from the dorm back home, which was fine by Ryujin. Yeji was a good roommate— most of the time.

“Sorry,” said Yeji, “I need someone to talk to.”

A good roommate except for when she woke you up in the middle of the night because she just _had_ to talk to someone, which had happened more than once before.

“Jesus, what time is it?”

“Um, I think about three.”

“In the morning?”

“Yeah. I bought these caffeine pills to counteract the jetlag, and they haven’t worn off. I feel like I could explode any moment, so talk to me, please.”

“You better give me some, too, then,” said Ryujin, rubbing the sleep from her eyes— it was pointless to resist when she got like this.

Yeji dug into her bag and found a yellow box and threw it to Ryujin.

“Goddamn, Yeji, how many of these did you take?”

“Like three, I think. It says one is equivalent to a cup of coffee.”

“But you don’t have any kind of tolerance, and you weigh, like, under a hundred pounds,” said Ryujin.

“Little over a hundred, I’ll have you know,” said Yeji, and she shoved Ryujin over so she could lay next to her. Ryujin took out two little yellow tablets from the box and swallowed them dry.

“How can you do that?” asked Yeji.

“What?”

“Take all those pills like that. I gag on aspirin.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice.”

“I’m going to choose not to read into that too much.”

“Good idea.”

Yeji, obviously in the throes of a stimulant, jittery and warm and sweating, pushed her head into the space between Ryujin’s head and shoulder. “You know,” she said, “caffeine is supposed to be an aphrodisiac.”

“I think that’s a myth,” said Ryujin.

“Visions and myths and prophecies and all that are usually based in truth, you know.”

“Just because you’re feeling a little lusty doesn’t mean that coffee is some kind of secret libido-booster modern science has yet to realize the full potential of.”

“Just because I woke you up doesn’t mean you have to be all grumpy like this.”

“It kind of does.”

“Look, I’m sorry, but you know how I get. Like I’ll spontaneously combust if I keep all these thoughts of mine bottled up.”

“Yeah,” said Ryujin, “but why does it have to be me and not literally anyone else?”

“Because I don’t have a key to anyone else’s hotel room.”

Ryujin sighed. She said, “Are you really feeling, uh, lusty? Thinking about Yuna again?”

“Stop it,” Yeji squealed, and she hit Ryujin’s arm with the back of her hand. “You know she’s not my type.”

Ryujin found herself thinking of those rumors again. A vivid memory enhanced by the dreaming chemicals still swimming through her mind: A pack of little girls glaring over their shoulders at a crestfallen Yeji; a girl named Minyoung whispering in Ryujin’s ear that she shouldn’t hang out with that dyke, Yeji, if she could avoid it; Yeji, being laughed at for the short hair she liked to wear, even if it cost her during the monthly evaluation— not like she needed any help to pass those, though. And now here Yeji was, and here Minyoung and that pack of girls weren’t.

“Yeji, can I ask you a question? Like a personal question?”

“Uh, go ahead, I guess.”

“Were those rumors about you true?”

“Which ones? I remember there were a lot.”

“Well— and this is just what I heard— I know a couple people told me you’d, like, almost been kicked out because— and, again, this is what other people told me— you got caught making out with another girl in the bathroom.”

“I mean, that’s kind of an exaggeration, but basically that’s true.”

“Exaggeration how?” asked Ryujin.

“I wasn’t almost kicked out. The other girl— Eun-a, I think her name was— she was packing her bags later that day, but I never even got a warning. They couldn’t afford to lose me.”

“Damn, you don’t even remember her name?”

“Hey, it was a long time ago. I remember she wasn’t a very good kisser.”

“I’m sure you weren’t either,” said Ryujin, smiling.

“Is that some kind of challenge,” asked Yeji, turning on her side to make eye contact with Ryujin.

Maybe it was the caffeine kicking in, but Ryujin felt something akin to mortal dread pierce her heart. She fell into another reverie: The day they’d moved into the ITZY dorm together, when the rooms had been divvied out and the roommates had been decided. Ryujin and Yeji together in their room. Their new room that they’d earned with years of hard work, even if it was a little small. Close friends but not intimately close, and so there was a little awkwardness when they changed in front of each other for the first time. And Ryujin, sneaking glances at Yeji’s nude body, had felt, well, desire. A kind of desire, pure and yet so impure, that she’d never felt before. And then, after the fact, fear so powerful she didn’t get a wink of sleep.

“So is this you coming out to me?” asked Ryujin, forcing a smile into her lips.

“Mm, isn’t it just fun to kiss. Why do you have to put a label on it?”

Ryujin’s smile fell away. Is this what she wanted? Was this lust, desire, hunger? Or was this something fluid and indefinite that would create more problems than it would solve? She thought of the meteors in her dream. It felt like there was one crashing into her chest.

Finally, she said, “Go ahead then. Let me see how good of a kisser you are.” And Yeji giggled a little and lowered her lips down to Ryujin’s and—

There was a massive crashing noise, and the two, who were hyper-alert for a number of reasons, jumped out of the little twin bed and saw that the window, which overlooked the New York City skyline, had been smashed. On the carpeted floor of the hotel room, there was a steaming, golf-ball-sized hunk  of rock in the center of a crater of its own creation.

  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryujin and Yeji deal with the physical and psychological aftermath of the meteorite.

Around three months before her debut, Ryujin was pulled into the office of Choi Dohyun who acted within JYP Entertainment as an arm of The CEO himself. The CEO rarely spoke with idols outside of press appearances, especially those who had yet to debut, and usually, when it was necessary, entrusted that job to one of his lackeys, e.g., Choi Dohyun.

Tall and thin and maybe twice her age, Ryujin had met him once before when she’d gotten, well, a scolding for routinely eating outside her diet. It stood out, this experience, as one of the worst of her time as a trainee-- which is no mean feat. And now there she was again, kneading her hands together as if trying to wring some unwanted substance from them.

“How do you like the girls you’re supposed to debut with?” Mr. Choi asked. His voice wasn’t unpleasant, low and smooth and slow, but it was like he was talking over her, like she was just an assistant.

“Um, they’re nice,” she said.

“Nice?”

“Well, yeah, they’re friendly and supportive and good at what they do.”

“Would they say the same thing about you?”

“Wow, what a question. Um, I hope so. I mean, they haven’t said anything that might indicate they wouldn’t say the same thing.”

“Interesting,” said Mr. Choi, stroking his little goatee. 

“Did they? Say something different, I mean.”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just… some of the reports I get, or rather the reports our employer gets,  make it seem like maybe that isn’t the case.”

“What do you mean?”

“They-- the reports-- make it sound like you’re a little, uh, standoffish around these other girls. Meaning quiet and reserved.”

“That might just be my, like, personality. It’s not that they’re mean to me or anything. Or that I don’t like them. I really like them,” she said, a picture of Yeji in her mind. 

“Hmm. So it would be accurate to say you’re shy by nature. An introvert. That you feel nervous around people you don’t know very well.”

“Yeah, that’s probably fair.”

“See, Ryujin, that’s just not going to fly. A lot is riding on the success of ITZY. A lot financially. A lot reputation-wise. And success for a modern day idol group involves a kind of closeness between its members. You  _ need  _ to make friends.”

“Oh. I see what you’re getting at. I understand. Not a problem. I can absolutely do that.”

“Well, I admire your can-do attitude, but I-- and by ‘I’ I mean our employer-- would rather not leave it up to chance,” he said, and he pulled from a drawer in his desk a little opaque white bottle and placed it in front of Ryujin. It was like a prescription bottle but somehow less official-looking. A label on it read, “Phenibut HCl.”

“That,” said Mr. Choi, “is basically a cure to your shyness.”

Ryujin gulped. “Uh, could you maybe be a little more, like, specific.”

“This is a medication that counteracts social-anxiety. Don’t worry, it’s pretty harmless. From now on, you’re going to take two of the capsules in this bottle-- two-hundred and fifty milligrams each. And you’re going to make friends. This is all strictly off the books, by the way. This doesn’t come from a ‘doctor”-- he did little air-quotes over  _ doctor _ \-- “It’s technically not even legal in Korea. We import it from Russia.”

“Um, okay,” Ryujin said, still staring at the white bottle. “Anything else I should know?”

“Not really. Most of the side effects users describe are positive. Increased enjoyment in leisure activities, higher sex-drive. Be aware, however, that this isn’t something you can just quit taking whenever you want. Then you really will have bad side-effects.”

“Okay.” And she took the bottle and followed orders, which is something she’s always been very good at. 

***

Yeji and Ryujin stared at-- what else were you supposed to call it?-- the meteorite that lay steaming in front of them. The window had been smashed to pieces, and its glass littered the space around the open portal to New York, the curtains flowing a little from the summer wind. 

“Is that what I think it is?” asked Yeji.

“What do you think it is?” asked Ryujin.

“I think it’s a hunk of rock that fell from fucking outer space, Ryujin. What else could it be?”

“It’s a little weird, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Yes it is a little weird. It’s also totally insane and bordering on surreal.”

“Be careful of the broken glass.”

“How are you not freaking out right now? That thing was in outer space, flying at literally astronomical speeds in front of like Jupiter and Saturn and shit, and it crashed into  _ our  _ room. I mean, what are the odds of that? That’s like one of those fun facts where they say, like, ‘It’s more likely that you’ll win the lottery a hundred times than it is for you to get struck by lightning. And you’ll get struck by lightning a hundred times before a fucking meteor crashes into your room and scares the shit out of you and stops you from kissing your best friend.’”

“Should I call someone to, like, clean this up or something?”

“What? Absolutely not, Ryujin. I’m keeping this thing.” Yeji walked over to the rock, being less cautious of the glass than Ryujin might’ve liked, and picked it up. “That’s hot.”

“Really? It’s not like it burst through the atmosphere or anything.” Yeji shot Ryujin a disapproving glass and put the rock on the nightstand. Then she hopped over to Ryujin and wrapped her arms around her.

“I can’t believe that,” said Yeji. “No one else is going to believe it either, even if I throw it at them.”

“We’ll know, though. Our little secret.”

“One of them, anyway. Speaking of which, were we about to kiss?”

Ryujin felt her face grow hot. She could feel a kind of gnawing in her chest, and it reminded her that now was around the time she usually took her medication. “Um, I don’t remember. Were we?”

“I think we were,” Yeji said, smiling. “Do you want to pick up where we left off. All this adrenaline is making me feel, like, invincible or something.

Ryujin was feeling the adrenaline, too, but of a very different sort. She wanted to curl up in bed and pretend this midnight encounter with Yeji and the meteorite had never happened. “I don’t get it, Yeji. You’re so, like, confident all the time.”

“Well, compared to you I am. But that’s not a very high bar, you know what I mean?”

Ryujin rolled her eyes even though she knew it was true. “I’m going to take a shower. We have to be ready at eight, remember?”

Yeji looked at her phone. “When’d it get so late? Or early, I guess.” The light from the broken window had gone from black to a vaporous navy blue. 

Ryujin grabbed her bag of toiletries, went into the mildewy hotel bathroom, and turned on the shower. With the sound of rushing water masking it, she removed her bottle of pills from the bag and swallowed them dry, already beginning to feel more comfortable. 

In the shower, she hit her hand against her forehead. God, how hopeless could she be? Yeji’d been  _ on top of her  _ for fuck’s sake, and she hadn’t had the nerve to do anything. That goddamn meteorite. Smashed into that window then right into her hopes and dreams. 

There was something Yeji’d said when they’d been roommates for about a week. “Ryujin, it’s like you’re always squirming. Like you’re dying to say something but can’t get it out.”

If only it was that simple. If she knew what she wanted to say, then everything would get so much easier. But she didn’t. She didn’t even know what she wanted to say to herself. Did she  _ like  _ Yeji? Did she even like girls, for that matter? Were those feelings in the pit of her stomach when she saw Yeji love? Lust? What was the difference?

Then she felt the Phenibut kick in (caffeine plus an empty stomach plus low body fat will do that), and those questions were blown away like sand from a dune. Now, when she pictured Yeji, it felt good. She was so fucking  _ beautiful _ , after all, why shouldn’t it bring her joy to think about her. Her hand crept down between her legs unbidden, and she switched the water to ice-cold to stop herself from going any further down that rabbit hole. 

While drying herself off, she had an idea.

Yeji’s eyes widened, Ryujin could swear, when she saw.

“Ryujin,” said Yeji, “why are you naked?”

“My clothes are out here.”

“Uh, you couldn’t have, like, wrapped a towel around yourself?”

“What? Surely you’ve seen me naked before.”

“I mean, never quite so… unabashedly.”

“Are you intimidated?” asked Ryujin, deadpan.

“That’s not the word I’d use.”

While Yeji watched Ryujin change, Ryujin could swear she felt a rumbling like beneath her feet. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Big explosions.

The TV in the lobby showed a crumbling building. Ryujin’s English wasn’t nearly good enough to understand the rapid-fire, anxious-sounding words of the blonde reporter, but the images looked pretty dire: smoldering ruins, distraught onlookers. And she recognized the word “Manhattan.” This had happened close to them. 

“Is it the freedom?” asked Yeji. ITZY was supposed to meet in this lobby at eight in the morning, butYeji and Ryujin were the only ones who’d made it. The clock read 8:05.

“Is what the freedom?”

“I don’t know, it’s hard to describe. But you’re acting different. And like, we’re in New York City, and no one’s going to recognize us around here, and isn’t that the idea about America? ‘Home of the Free,’ and so on.”

“I don’t know if you missed the history lesson about that big war in our country in the Fifties, or if you haven’t seen those American soldiers with guns who come to Seoul from the DMZ, but I think it’s a mistake to say America has anything to do with freedom. Not to get too political.”

“Relax. That’s not what I meant. I was just saying, you know, that maybe a change of scenery has done you good. Made you less shy, I mean.”

“I don’t think I’ve been less shy.”

“You were just naked in front of me, Ryujin. You never do that willingly. Jisu, Chaeryeong-- they don’t care about that kind of thing. But you’re always so, like, cagey. I don’t know.” Then she lowered her voice and said, “Not to mention we almost  _ kissed _ .”

“Quit bringing that up,” said Ryujin. “I was barely awake. But maybe you’re right about me being less shy. That meteorite really scared the shit out of me, and maybe the, like, endorphins from a near-death experience are making me high or something.”

“Or maybe it made you realize that nothing we do is really  _ that  _ scary compared to getting hit by a space rock.”

“That seems too simplistic.”

“Maybe. I mean, you didn’t even seem that scared by it anyway,” said Yeji.

Ryujin paused to think about that. She was right, the impact of a potentially lethal projectile in front of her didn’t frighten her. But right there in the lobby, her heart leapt in her chest and her eyes kept darting around the room like she might spot some attacker, even despite the sedative effects of the Phenibut. It’d obviously left some kind of mark, the meteorite.

“Can I tell you something really weird?” asked Ryujin.

“I guess so.”

“Well— I mean weird as in don’t laugh, by the way— but I was in the middle of this dream before you woke me up. And it was… I’m not a hundred percent sure I’m remembering this correctly. But I think it was me and you in Times Square, and there were, like, big fireballs coming down all around us.”

“So?”

“So isn’t that a little creepy? It’s like I predicted the future or something.”

“Mm, that’s a stretch.”

“You think? Look up there,” said Ryujin, gesturing toward the TV. “It feels like my prophecy is coming true.”

“Isn’t it a little narcissistic to think that rocks in outer space are in any way influenced by you?”

Just then, Yuna and Jisu burst through the elevator doors at the other end of the room and waved sleepily.

***

Below the massive ensemble of space rocks, poised like assassins above the city and, indeed, the world, Ryujin and Yeji and their colleagues drove through the wet New York streets and chattered among themselves. 

Yeji said, “I’m honestly not one hundred percent sure I’m on board with some of these, like, costumes.”

Jisu said, “They’re not costumes, Yeji. It’s high fashion, and I, for one, am very excited. I heard the Jonas brothers are going to be there.”

“Who?” asked Chaeryeong. 

“Celebrities, Chaeryeong,” continued Jisu. “Attractive male celebrities. I’m very excited.” 

Yuna giggled and Chaeryeong rolled her eyes. Ryujin stared out the window, the fatigue of an all-nighter catching up with her somewhat. Striking neon, red and green and blue and purple, reflected off puddles in the street. 

To some extent, it was like there were two Ryujins. 1) the Ryujin who was capable but isolated. The one who’d partitioned herself away from those closest to her. But there was also 2) the Ryujin who was freakishly competent and maybe the best dancer in the Eastern hemisphere. Which one of those had nearly made lip-on-lip contact with Yeji? Both?

Their manager had handed the five of them the catalogue of clothing from which they were supposed to select their outfit for the upcoming photoshoot/promotion. They were all a little gaudy, the clothes. Which Ryujin would be wearing this leopard-print minidress?

The traffic was bad, and not just New York bad. There’d been some kind of accident of up in front of them, it looked like. The manager driving blasted the horn impotently. 

Then she saw it: the crumbling mess from the TV. Melted metal, crumbling rubble, blackened support-beams. And in the center of it all was a smoking chunk of purplish rock— the same shape as the one that’d smashed into the middle of their tryst earlier, but now writ large. Maybe the size of a microwave. Firefighters and policeman and office-workers with white and black debris stuck in their hair milled around the scene. It looked like the news footage of 9/11 she’d been shown in Modern History class. 

Ryujin nudged Yeji and made her see the meteorite, gave her a look like, “See?” but Yeji just shrugged. 

***

In a cramped little dressing room, the band picked their clothes. Yeji peeled off her casual outfit and began the (arduous) process of donning her ineffable dress-type thing. Ryujin allowed herself a couple sly glances. The slender limbs, the rippling, almost undulating effect the bones moving under her pale skin created— Ryujin bit her lip. 

When she was finished, Yeji came up next to her and said, “You know, I kind of hate things like this. It’s, I don’t know, like some kind of dollhouse. And we’re the dolls.” Ryujin nodded. “And also— I don’t know if I’ve told you this before— but I kind of hate dressing up all feminine like this. Dresses, skirts, these weird mesh tops they’re always making me wear. They’re not me. Like, if I had my way, I’d shave all the hair off my head.” She said it like she wanted Ryujin to laugh, but her face remained blank. 

“Yeji,” she said, “do you ever feel like you need to break through?”

“That sounds like you’re saying  _ you  _ feel like you need to break through. So explain what that means.”

“I don’t know. It’s like… remember when you said that I always look like I have something to say, but that I can never say it?”

“Uh, vaguely? Do you have something you need to say, is that what you’re getting at?”

“That’s what I’m saying, Yeji. I don’t know what I want to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.”

“I know.”

“Sometimes it’s better to do something, like, violent. I don’t mean, like, literally violent, but something kind of drastic, you know. Actions speak louder than words, right?” 

“Maybe. Violence, huh...”

“Yes. And speaking of ‘loud,’ you should put on that hideous dress so we can go out there.”

“C’mere a second first.” Ryujin said out of the corner of her mouth. Then she pulled Yeji by the wrist outside the dressing room and down back through a little alcove and then under a flickering fluorescent light. And before she could do anything to stop herself, she pressed her lips to Yeji’s mouth, nose-tip touching nose-tip. 

Yeji backed up a full three steps and gasped. “ _ Woah _ ,” she said. “That’s not… You can’t just do that to someone. Oh my god. _ Woah _ .”

“Oh, sorry,” Ryujin said, also backing up. “You just said—”

But she was interrupted by the light above them turning off completely and the building around them shaking like it was having some kind of fit. And things on the wall began to fall to the ground.

“Was that us?” asked Ryujin. 

  
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trapped, the two are forced to consider their actions.

A crash, then another, closer, then a third right in front of them. Ryujin jumped, Yeji frowned. The only light was the hollow red blare of the exit signs. 

“Seriously, Yeji, it feels like we did that.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The, you know, the  _ kiss,  _ I think it, like, triggered something.”

“Triggered what? What are you saying we did?”

“A meteorite, Yeji. Obviously. It’s got something to do with us.”

“Are you off your meds or something, Ryujin?” Yeji said. Ryujin recalled to herself that she was, in fact, still on her meds— not that Yeji knew about that.

“I’m serious. Watch, emergency people are going to come in here and get us, and they’ll tell us that a big rock smashed into the building and that’s why the power went out and why there’s debris falling all around us.”

“That is if the debris doesn’t fall  _ on  _ us.”

“Good point.”

As if on cue, a girder or something fell from the ceiling, a couple feet from landing on Ryujin’s head. Both of them jumped and ran in the opposite direction, only to be stopped by another piece of falling debris. Ryujin whimpered. They were trapped here in the pitch black.

Yeji pulled out her phone and turned on its flashlight, and it revealed what they’d already known to be true, which was that they were penned in now by ruined concrete and plaster. 

“Oh god,” she said. “Ryujin, what the fuck. We’re going to die?”

“What? We’re not going to die.”

“I’ve only got, like, twenty percent, so we’re going to die in the dark.”

“We aren’t going to die.”

“Really unpleasantly, too, like from thirst.”

“If you haven’t died of thirst already, I’m pretty sure you’re immune,” said Ryujin.

“This is fucking serious, Ryujin.”

“Relax. Lots of people are here, and we’re in, like, the biggest city in the world. I doubt it’ll be more than an hour.”

Yeji slumped to the floor, her back to the crumbling stone. “Was it really us?” she asked.

“I mean, there’s no other explanation that I can see.”

“But, like, how?”

“Well, I don’t know, Yeji. If I knew how I could control massive celestial bodies, I would’ve, like, harnessed that ability a long time ago.”

“We don’t know that it was a meteorite this time.”

“What else could it be?”

“A terrorist attack or something?”

“Jesus, that’s kind of dark.”

“More plausible than you having superpowers, don’t you think?” said Yeji.

“Watch, I’ll actually pay you if it turns out to be anything else than a meteorite. Because how could it be anything else? That’s the second time that a kiss has been interrupted by some massive calamity.”

“So is, like, us kissing the cause of these big explosions? Jesus, people might’ve died.”

“No one died, calm down. We’re also not going to die. We’re not. And I guess it was probably the kissing. Though also I could swear that me being naked in front of you caused the destruction of that building we passed.”

“...”

“...”

“Does that mean we can’t do any of those things again?” asked Yeji.

“What things?”

“...”

“What things, Yeji?”

“You know, like, does that mean we can’t kiss again? Like, if we do it again, will another building get destroyed?”

“Were you thinking about doing it again?”

“...”

Ryujin slid down next to Yeji and put her head on Yeji’s shoulder. The way the light from Yeji’s phone bounced around their tiny enclosure, it was like she, Ryujin’s friend, Ryujin’s leader, was herself the sole source of illumination. 

“Fuck it,” said Ryujin. “You know, I’ve always struggled with, like, saying what I’m thinking, much less acting on it. And now that I have, to some extent, the world is literally coming crashing down around me. And honestly I don’t care. It feels good. It feels cathartic.”

“But, Ryujin, people are getting hurt. Like physically hurt, probably, and financially hurt as well.”

“But, okay, listen, this is going to sound pretty, like, corny I think, but Yeji, I do really like you, you know. I’ve wanted to kiss you for so long now. Ever since I first laid eyes on you. And I don’t know, I’ve always admired that about you. Your willingness to, like, go against the grain.”

“Thanks?”

“I’m serious. Back when we were trainees, everyone told me, ‘Avoid Yeji, she’ll ruin your chances.’ And other meaner stuff, as well. And of course I didn’t have the confidence you did, and so I never disobeyed them. But when I’d watch you dance with your short hair, it was like looking straight at the sun. And I swear to god, now that I’m saying all this out loud, the chance that I might hurt somebody is not going to stop me. Fuck it.”

“Wha—” Yeji started to say, but she was interrupted by Ryujin’s mouth on hers. There was another crash. 

A pinprick of sunlight fell on them. It grew wider, and the two broke their kiss to look at the fireman who was gesturing for them to get out of there. They crawled out through a hole in the rubble and surveyed their surroundings, discovering that, in fact, they’d been quite fortunate. A couple of steps to the right left and they’d’ve been crushed. 

Ryujin worried if Jisu and Yuna and Chaeryeong were alright, but only for an instant. Her thoughts were wrapped around Yeji much as she wished her body was. The fireman was explaining something to them in a language they didn’t understand. Ryujin ignored him. Instead, she grabbed Yeji’s face and pulled it toward her own and pressed their lips together forcibly. In the distance there was a dull thud.

Her tongue entered Yeji’s mouth, and there was another thud, closer. The fireman was trying to pry them apart, but they understood no forms of communication now except their own. Ryujin moved her mouth to Yeji’s neck, and there was a crash right next to them, and the fireman ran off. 

Breaking away for a moment, Ryujin found a piece of broken glass on the ground, picked it up, walked behind Yeji, and began to shear away her long black hair. It came off in big, smooth, curled locks, and Ryujin brought each clump to her nose before letting it fall to the ground. She continued until the style was bobbed and boyish. 

Then they fell to the ground. Yeji’s hand slid under Ryujin’s shirt and up to her chest, and both of them gasped. A sound like a million fireworks sounded, and it was impossible for Ryujin to tell whether it was only in her head or not.

They removed each others’ clothes and coiled around each other like snakes in the dusty aftermath. With each moan, there were screams, so far away, and the sounds of metal wrenching and glass shattering. For each thrust, each strained muscle, there was another crash. 

As both reached their climax— indeed, at the same time— they gained perspective, looked around, and discovered that New York City, for as far as they could see, had been flattened. 


End file.
